A silicon carbide substrate typically has an excellent resistance to corrosion by chemicals such as acids and alkalis, and therefore is used for processing/adjustment of a polishing pad used in CMP (chemical mechanical polishing), for example, as described in JP-A-2006-95637 (Patent Document 1).
On the other hand, as described in Japanese Patent Application No. 2007-184896 (Patent Document 2), a silicon carbide substrate is splinterless in comparison with a silicon substrate and the like and also has high thermal conductivity, and accordingly is contemplated for use as an SOI (Semiconductor On Insulator) substrate. On using the silicon carbide substrate as the SOI substrate, silicon carbide is often used as a base material of the SOI substrate and a silicon substrate is formed on the silicon carbide base via an insulating film. That is, it often happens in such an SOI substrate that silicon carbide is used as a support member while silicon is used as an element forming region for forming a semiconductor element.
Moreover, proposal has been also offered like in JP-A-2000-228461 (Patent Document 3) about forming a low-loss wiring substrate for high-frequency applications by using ceramic containing silicon carbide.